Court Grants Continuance in Murder Suspect's Jury Trial

COLUMBIA - Both parties in the case of 21-year-old Ryan Bridger met for a pretrial hearing at the Boone County Courthouse Monday afternoon. Bridger is charged with the murder of 67-year-old Aletha M. Turner in Dec. 2010. Turner was found unconscious in her home Dec. 20. The Boone County medical examiner performed an autopsy on Turner and ruled the death a homicide. Boone County Sheriff's Detective Tom O' Sullivan told KOMU in 2010 that Bridger shot Turner in the head.

According to the prosecutor's office, the defense asked Monday for a continuance for the jury trial set on March 14. The prosecutor's office said it thinks the defense asked for the continuance because the attorney has only been on the case since January. The court granted the continuance, but has not released when the jury trial will now begin. Public defender Christopher Hayes is Bridger's attorney according to online case records. Calls to his office Monday afternoon went unreturned.